Our Hero of the Week is more than a football star and legend, more than the “king” of soccer and FIFA’s Player of the Century. We chose Pelé because he exemplifies a paradigm shift that oozes a power far beyond the world of soccer and sports. With his wild and unexpected moves, and a style and joy of playing that was completely beyond the imagination of the coaches, commentators, and athletes at the time, that young teenager from the slums of Sao Paolo, Brazil, single-handedly transformed football into an art of life!
Pelé grew up in a poor neighborhood and learned about football early from his father, who was himself a talented professional player in the local leagues. The kids played barefoot and usually without a proper ball; grapefruits and balls of string often had to do the trick. But his poor origins and heritage also endowed him with a special gift that goes back to the traditions of the African slaves—capoeira.
Capoeira, known as the “Dance of War,” is a fast and dexterous style of self-defense, an African-Brazilian form of martial art that keeps the fighter in a state of constant motion. It is said that Brazilian slaves who escaped their captivity practiced capoeira as far back as the 16th century to defend themselves, and it exists to this day as a form of dance, acrobatics, and spiritual martial art.
The magic that Pelé brought to the playing field, which led his team to a three-time win of the World Soccer Championship, originated in this particular style of acrobatics, jumps, dribbling, and dance-like movements. Those famous Ginga movements that Pelé employed in his play—the swing, or rocking steps—lie at the heart of the ancient African technique full of complex maneuvers, high-flying saltos, and artistic footwork.
Pelé has inspired millions of young people to believe in themselves and learn to move through the playing field of life in a way that is creative, flexible, unexpected, and fun. That’s what we need to outmaneuver Mr. Global! Our “backcasting” of victory from the envisioned 2030 future is an example of such a move, turning the rules of time on their head.
Let Pelé inspire all of us today, again, to bring on the magic of the unexpected and the dance of unpredictability for all who decide to no longer be “slaves” and instead walk out into freedom.
Related:
Pelé on Wikipedia
Ginga – The essence of Brazilian football through the years
BBC article: Pele – Brazil legend’s extraordinary career in pictures
Pele was inspirational. Love the fluidity & magic of his play. I would have never known much of his story, but my son is a talented soccer player, completely obsessed! He just presented a project at school about Pele. I’ve come to love “the beautiful game!”
Good choice for Hero of the Week. Pele was quite the unifying force in Brazil.
As per the reference to the dance/fight routine of Capoeira…here’s a sample of it being performed in the streets of Sao Salvador, Bahia state in Brazil. https://youtu.be/cnIzInTyS-M
Great training – builds confidence when dealing with tyranny.
Yes indeed, it sure does.
Might be useful to have a series on economics, laws and resistance of labor-related tyranny, including but not limited to:
– ancient slavery, e.g. Egypt
– African slavery
– post-slavery indentured Indian worker contracts, H1B exploitation
– Philippine history, labor migration of nurses and domestic workers
– modern prison labor
– modern day labor and human trafficking, immigrant exploitation
– MK-Ultra, mind control, Manchurian candidates, merc/fin cogniceuticals
– mandates tied to “voluntary employment”
– mandated national service in some countries
– non-competes in modern contracts
– non-public industry employment blacklists
– “do-not-travel” blacklists and whistleblower targeting in some countries
– “Hotel California” industries which constrain future employment
– remote/cyber/WFH/VR labor, e.g. Mechanical Turk, Fiverr, games
– cyberscams, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/03/cambodias-modern-slavery-nightmare-the-human-trafficking-crisis-overlooked-by-authorities
– livestream influencer farms, https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/china-influencer-farms-live-shopping/
– mandatory electronic surveillance of remote workers and students
Related movies:
– Taboo, TV series, Dutch East India, slavery, produced by Scott Ridley and Tom Hardy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taboo_(2017_TV_series)
– Amazing Grace, legal ban of slavery, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Grace_(2006_film)
– Outland, Sean Connery, corporate drugs and space workers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outland_(film)
– Altered Carbon, Netflix series, workerminds+meatsuits and immortal elites, VR torture (funded by children of billionaires)
– Moon, by Duncan Jones (son of David Bowie), human clone labor, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_(2009_film)
– Source Code, by Duncan Jones, soldier-brain-in-jar time loop replay, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_Code
– many from the Solari movie list
– IMDB “Labor Day” movie list, https://www.imdb.com/list/ls002014923/